Valve-controller



(No Model.)

J. B. ODELL. VALVE CONTROLLER. No. 426,466. PatentedApr. 29, 1890,

UNITED STATES PATENT Qrrrcn.

JOHN B. ODELL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

VALVE- CONTROLLER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 426,466, dated April29, 1890.

Application filed July 19, 1889.

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I,'JOH N B. ODELL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Valve-Controllers, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, and exact description, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of thisspecification.

The primary object of my invention is to provide an improvedvalve-controller that will serve more especially to effect an economical saving of gas when used for generating steam, the steam-pressurebeing employed to turn off the gas at any desired pressure, and to turnit 011 at a greatly-reduced pressure, if so desired.

1 am aware that valve regulators have been heretofore used that turn onand off the gas by the pressure generated by the flame at a given pointof pressure; but as soon as such pressure is released the gas isimmediately turned on, thereby effecting the saving of 110 great amountof gas.

In the accompanying drawings my present invention is shown in connectionwith a steamgenerator, of which my previous application for improvementin steam-heating apparatus, filed February 25, 1889, Serial No. 301,126is a sample.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure l. is a side elevation.Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a modified form of the invention. Fig. 3is a detail view of the adj ustment-rod.

3 is a cylinder screwed to the top of the generator A, having apiston-head t playing therein. The piston-rod 5 passes through thecylinder-head 6 and rests against an arm '7, one end of which ispivotally held at 8 by the frame 9, secured to the side of the cylinder.To the other end of arm '7 is pivoted a rod 10, which passes throughguides 11, fastened to the generator to keep it in line.

In the lower end of rod 10 is a slot 12, that may be partially coveredby movable plates 13 and 14. Plates 1S and let also have slots 15 and16, through which pass stems 17 and 18, securely fastened to the rod 10,having adjustable thumb-screws 19 and 20 working on their free ends forthe purpose of holding (N0 model.)

Serial No. 318,065

fastened to arm 7, the other end being fastened t0 the stem 28, thatpasses through the guideframe 11, which carries a thu1nb-screw 29, thatis held against the guide 11 by the tension of the spring, for thepurpose of adjusting the tension given to arm 7.

To illustrate the manner of first adjusting the valve-controller, weWill assume that it is desired to turn off the gas at a pressure of tenpounds in the generator and to turn it on at a pressure of live poundsin the generator. The gas being lighted, the steam generated in thegenerator raises the piston, forcing the arm 7 and rod 10 upward. \Vhenthe pressure is at the desired point, the adjustable plate lat is movedup on the rod 10 until it strikes the stem 22 of the gas-cock 2i andraises it far enough to cut off the gas. It is now tightened by thethumb-screw 20 at this point. The tension on the spring 2% is put on tocounterbalance the inside pressure of the generator.

The gas being turned off allows the pressure to decrease and the arm 7and rod 10 to descend. When it has reached the point where five poundspressure is indicated, the plate 13 is placed and tightened by itsthumbscrew-lf], where it will shove the stem of the gas-cock downwardand turn on the gas, the gas again being ignited by the small branch.burner left burning. It is plain that the valve-controller will nowoperate to turn on and off the gas automatically between these twopoints until they are changed. I prefer to use the small branch burnerto .relight the heating-burners, as this arrangement would be the mosteconomical; but it may be dispensed -with, if desired, and the downwardmovement of the regulating-rod stopped be plates 13 and let, as is thereshown.

fore entirely turning off the gas supplying the heaters.

While I have shown in Fig. 1 the cylinder 3 screwed into the top of thegenerator, it may be screwed into the side at a right angle to thegenerator, as shown in Fig. 2, and the piston-rod extended to carry theadjustable In this modified form of my invention the rod 10 Will bepractically connected with or part of the piston-stem, so as to bepositively moved thereby. It will be seen that by my present invention alost-motion connection is atforded between the piston-rod and the stemof the gas-cock, sothat the operation of the cock is not afieoted by themovement of the piston-stem, or the variation of steam within thecylinder except at the extremes of movement, as hereinbefore mentioned.By thus providing a lostmotion connection between the gas-cock and thestem of the piston the gas vis allowed to burn at a uniform rate untilit is cut off, and when out off the steam within the generator isutilized while the gas remains cut off until the steam falls below thepoint where the inward movement of the piston-head will cause thegas-cook to be again opened to restore the temperature within thegenerator.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A valve-controller comprising a steamcylinder, a piston-head for saidcylinder, a stem for said piston-head, a gas-cock, and a lost-motionconnection between said gas-cock and the piston-head, whereby thegas-cock will be operated at the extremes of movement of thepiston-head, but may remain unmoved at other times, substantially as setforth.

2'. A gas-controller comprising a steam-cylinder, a piston-head in saidcylinder, a stem for said piston-head, a gas-cock, and a lostmotionconnection between said gas-cock and said piston-head, consisting ofadjustable devices, said adjustable devices to be adjusted at a distance.from each other sufficiently great to insure the non-action of thegas-cock until a predetermined pressure is reached, substantially asdescribed.

3. A valve-controller comprising a steamcylinder, a piston head therein,a stem for said piston-head, a gas-cock, and a lost-motion connectionbetween said gas-cock and the piston-stem, consisting of a slotted rodhaving adjustable plates for determining the movement of the gas-cock,substantially as described.

JOHN B. ODELL.

I Witnesses:

GEO. P. FISHER, J r., JAMES H. PEIRoE.

